When A / B Testing - Need

A / B testing is one of the most effective ways to increase conversion. However, according to the Econsultancy survey, only 38% of all companies use A / B testing. Let's talk about those cases where A / B testing is simply necessary (not desirable, but just necessary!) . So the word is given Jeremy Smith - the author of the article, who will share information that is valuable for those who are related to e-commerce in all its manifestations.
Changes to the site design

The fact that the design of the site is constantly changing - not news for online. The problem is that any design change is a loss of traffic and a reduction in conversion ratings. If for the designer this is just another fresh interface, then for SEO and CRO is a real headache: lost links, possible deterioration of positions in organic output, 404 errors and so on to infinity.
')
Here's what the change in design for Digg turned out to be:



Why do we need changes in design?

In fact, there are not so many really important reasons for making design changes. This is mainly because:

• Two whole years have passed, it's time to change something;
• the site looks old-fashioned;
• the budget has an article “making changes to the design”;
• designers have nothing to do;
• someone said that it would be nice to change something.

And so - to infinity. For this you should not look for adventure on your head.

When is it really time to change something?

1. This is necessary to optimize traffic;
2. need to increase conversion;
3. need to improve the quality of service.

Whatever the reason of these three, we do not take - all lead to the fact that any change in the design is justified only when it serves the purpose of increasing the conversion.

What do we mean by design change?

First of all, this is the whole palette, starting with the color scheme, and ending with CMS. When do I need A / B testing?

• when you completely change the architecture of the site;
• when doing rebranding;
• when you add or remove a significant number of pages;
• when you decide to change something on the start page;
• when you change something from conversion enhancement tools.

Here are some “seasoned tips” about this.

If there really is a need for change, then, before proceeding, conduct A / B testing. Use the resulting data as a base. Do not forget that the final tasks of any design changes are the improvement of the system of work, work with traffic and conversion. If none of these problems is solved, then you shouldn’t do anything.

After making changes, check the traffic statistics and compare with conversion rates. Bill Ross from LinchpinSEO.com writes:

“Traffic statistics is the first thing that needs to be analyzed, but secondly it is necessary to compare the obtained figures with the conversion rating, because it often happens that the traffic changes insignificantly, and the conversion is growing rapidly, which pays for insufficient traffic!”

After making all the necessary changes, do an A / B test. Do not rush and do not conduct several tests at a time. Have patience and set aside one test for at least two weeks.

Do an A / B test when changing a plugin or feature

Sometimes, more precisely, quite often, you will need to change the functionality of your site. When you do this - test it.

It is necessary to specifically emphasize that you are required to conduct A / B testing when a change affects customer data or the buying process. Here are some possibilities.

Shopping basket

Your shopping cart is an extremely sensitive part of your site. This is a place where money passes from hand to hand and the intensity of emotions is high. This is where you can potentially lose the flow of potential customers or disrupt the flow of traffic. Adjust the basket so that the transformations are only positive, and possible losses are compensated. Make sure you check all the innovations to find out where, how and why your actions can be beneficial or to the detriment of the project.

Do you want a cart that will help increase conversion? If during the testing of options you see that one form option gives 50% of failures, and the second - 60%, then you will understand what steps to take to minimize losses.

Contact collection and registration forms

One of the most important transformations, from my point of view, is the registration form. For consultants, content marketers, or SaaS businesses, email is one of the most important ways to contact. If you change your email service provider, you must test the registration page and landing pages (or contact collection form that you are using) with A / V.

A significant part of email-services have their own custom registration page. Some of them are disgusting. Some are beautiful. If you rotate and find that the conversion rate was 4% (compared to the previous 8%), you will find out that something has gone wrong.

I urge you to check out a wide range of services. Robert Tyson of The Tyson Report says:

“I use many different forms, and they all give different results. From 1% to 50% of visitors are converted into subscribers. "

A / B testing when price changes

Conversion optimization is one of the fastest ways to increase revenue. Another quick way to increase revenue is price change. But it is fraught with risk. You can both improve your income and reduce it to zero by unsuccessfully changing the price.

How to conduct an A / B test, changing the price

If you are considering the possibility of changing prices - first of all test. Just compare what will happen if you use two options for the price of one product.

Obviously, there will always be customers whose key to heart is the lowest prices. Other customers, however, can only appear if the price is above a certain level. You will not know this if you do not experience the effects of different pricing offers in practice.

Here's how people at TipsAndTricks-hq.com comment on price changes:

The best way to find out how your conversion responds to price changes is A / B testing your sales page. Thus, you will have two sales page options with two different product prices (for example, page A will offer a product for $ 47, and page B will offer it for $ 97). Then you offer “Page A” 50% of your customers, and “Page B” another 50% of your customers (preferably random). If you have enough data, you can set up another split test option with two more quotes and collect even more data.

This will help you measure your conversion rate for various prices. When you use the method specified above, you will be able to identify the “sweetest” price in terms of increasing conversion.

A / B testing: price changes ... and not only

This type of test can effectively use some of the effects of the changes. For example, let's say you sell software at an extremely low price ($ 2). Crowds of people will buy it because it is so cheap.

But a huge increase in sales has created a crushing number of clients served. You do not have time to deal with them. Unfortunately, hiring staff will be too expensive in terms of conversion. What will you do?

After A / B testing, you decide to raise the price. Now your software costs $ 40. You get less sales, but you have more money with each sale. In addition, you do not have to spend almost everything on customer service. You are able to devote time to product development, better service and customer retention. In addition, as already mentioned, you make more money.

This is what, in principle, A / B testing is intended for. It will not only give you relevant information about the state of your business, but will also provide additional comments that will affect conversion rates and revenue.

Perform an A / B test when it seems to you that your conversion is a bit tipsy

I have an insatiable thirst for data, I want to have more information and more statistics on conversion optimization.

I see this kind of thing every day:



Yeah! 3000% say? Let me do it too!

And I see this:



I am a lover of such materials. I’m wondering what kind of trick this guy did to get the conversion he’s talking about?

That is, you will encounter a large number of gems, but you have to sort through a bunch of garbage to get to them.

The only way to benefit from A / B tests is to check what you have learned. If it seems to you that your indicators are not growing as it should, or has turned up information that can magically raise the conversion - double check!

Do not make any changes on your site based only on someone else's A / B testing experience. It is like putting on glasses written to someone else. They obviously will not bring you benefit!

You do your own testing to get your own results. Then you will act correctly.

Successes and high conversion to you!